[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least anti-government armed snuffies were killed and 3 others were maimed during a clearance operation by the Afghan national security forces in eastern Kunar province... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations are part of the ongoing operations which were launched on Tuesday to suppress the growing activities of the bad boys.

A statement by MoD said the operations are led by 201st Corps of the Afghan National Army in coopration with the Afghan national and border police and Afghan intelligence operatives.

The statement further added that the operations are being conducted along the highways of Asmar, Nari, Ghaziabad up to Jalalabad city.

The Afghan forces are supported by the Afghan Air Force who are providing close-air support to the Afghan forces during the operations.

The anti-government armed bad boy groups have not commented regarding the report so far.

Kunar is among the volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed snuffies are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.

Insurgents belonging to the Afghan Taliban group as well as the foreign snuffies are operating in this province which is located along the Durand Line and close to the tribal regions of Pakistain.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Eight murderous Moslems have been killed and 12 others maimed in newest operation of security forces in Dehrawoud district of Urozgan province.

A statement released by the Ministry of Defense on Wednesday morning states that three cycle of violences of murderous Moslems were also destroyed Operation Tufan 53 conducted in past 24 hours.

The blurb further states that eight anti-tank landmines were also recovered and deactivated by the engineering unit of the 205th Military Corps in Urozgan’s neighboring Zabul, Kandahar and Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces.

According to the statement, the bombs were placed in Shamalzi district of Zabul, Shah Wali Kot of Kandahar and Durahi area of Helmand province.

Security forces are also engaged in heavy festivities with Taliban in southern Afghanistan where some areas are said to have been under severe threat of collapse.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 39 anti-government armed Death Eaters were killed in the latest clearance operations led by the Afghan national army forces in the past 24 hours.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said at least 18 Death Eaters were also maimed and various types of weapons and explosives were seized during the same operations.

A statement by MoD said at least 16 of the Death Eaters were killed in Dehrawood district of Uruzgan province and 12 others were maimeda.

The statement further added that 10 Death Eaters were killed and 3 others were maimed in a seprate operation in Asmar and Nari districts of Kunar province... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....At least 7 Death Eaters were killeda and 3 others were maimed during an operation in Kunduz province which include a commander of the Death Eaters identified as Agha Sherin.

The Afghan forces seized at least 28 rifles, including Ak-47s and M4s during an operation in Jabal Saraj district of Parwan province, MoD said, adding that the cache also included a shot gun, 23 Beretta pistols, 48 Walter pistols, 22 various other pistols along with 22,600 kg of various types of ammunition.

MoD also added that 6 Death Eaters were killed in other operations conducted in Andar district of Ghazni, Mosa Qala district of Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... and Alingar district of Laghman province.

The anti-government armed holy warrior groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has launched an investigation regarding the alleged shipment of the spare parts of armored vehicles and helicopters from Afghanistan to the neighboring Pakistain.

A statement by MoD said the Afghan armed forces have seized the containers which were allegedly shipping the spare parts to Pakistain.

The statement further added that the confiscated spare parts do not belong to the Ministry of Defense and were apparently belonging to the coalition forces.

MoD said the investigations are underway to find out more regarding the alleged shipment and further details will be released once the main parties have been ascertained.

Reports regarding the alleged shipment of the spare parts to Pakistain emerged two days suggesting that several containers loaded with various equipment were seized in NangarharThe unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province before the smugglers manage to take them to Pakistain.

The local government officials confirmed that a number of containers were seized by the security forces and handed over to the relevant authorities to be shipped back to Kabul...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.....However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... the authorities did not elaborate further regarding the alleged shipment and the parties involved in the alleged smuggling attempt.

[AnNahar] Kenya's armed forces said they had thwarted an assault by Shabaab jihadists on a military camp in southern Somalia early Wednesday, killing 19 forces of Evil and seizing a haul of weapons.

Kenyan troops operating under the African Union...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) "foiled a planned attack" by Shabaab gunnies near a camp operated by the Somali National Army and AMISOM at Afmadhow in the Lower Juba area, the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) said in a statement.

"The... forces of Evil had approached the camp at night with the intent to attack and cut off the SNA from the AMISOM KDF camp," it said.

"KDF soldiers on patrol identified the gunnies and engaged them in a fierce battle. The (Shabaab) attempted to fight back, but were swiftly repulsed by the KDF soldiers on patrol and those at the camp," it said, quoting army front man David Obonyo.

"Following the incident, 19 (Shabaab) gunnies were killed and one technical vehicle destroyed. Some of the arms and ammunition recovered include 10 AK 47 rifles and three rocket-propelled grenades."

Puntland troops have clashed with Al Shabaab fighters in deadly battle in the village of Suuj as forces are closing in on militant positions in Nugal region village of Godobjiran, Garowe Online reports.

On Wednesday morning, Puntland Defence Forces (PDFs) in armored vehicles raided militants regrouping in hideouts near Garmaal coastal village, 80km off former pirate hub, Eyl according to sources within the army. Puntland government officials have told that eleven Al Shabaab fighters were killed in the ongoing clean-up operations in areas along the Indian Ocean.

Speaking at a press conference in the State capital of Garowe, Information Minister Mohamud Hassan Soadde has indicated that they have gained upper hand in the ongoing fighting.

Heavy clashes between Puntland forces and Al shabaab militants have erupted on Wednesday at Suuj area, 30Km away from the coastal town of Eyl in Nugal region.

Clearly the undercard in the region...

The battle broke out when Puntland forces attacke Al shabaab militants at the area, sparking exchange of heavy weaponory used by the two sides, according to the residents. It is not clear the casualties of the fighting at Suuj village, with reports that Loud explosions and sporadic fire could be heard on Wednesday morning.

Puntland has held an emergecny security meeting in Garowe town to discuss the latest Al shabaab attacks on its territory, especially in Nugal and Mudug regions.

At least 24 people are dead and 23 injured after an attack by two female suicide bombers on a mosque on the outskirts of Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria, officials have said. One bomber blew herself up inside the mosque and the second waited outside to detonate as survivors tried to escape, said Abba Aji, a coordinator from the civilian self-defence Vigilante Group.

The mosque is in the Boko Haram stronghold of Umarari on the outskirts of the city, which is a command centre for the Nigerian military’s war against Boko Haram Islamic insurgents. In recent months, suicide bombers have blown themselves up at roadblocks manned by the military and vigilantes that lead into the city, indicating success in preventing attackers from reaching crowded areas.

Wednesday’s attack during dawn prayers is the first attack on Maiduguri since 28 December, when Boko Haram killed at least 50 people in an operation involving rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers.

[AlAhram] Three suspected Al-Qaeda holy warriors on a cycle of violence were killed Wednesday as a bomb they were transporting went kaboom! in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, a security official said.

He said the motorbike blew up in the Dar Saad neighbourhood of the city, the scene of fighting has raged between Islamist holy warriors and government forces.

Security officials said 26 Al-Qaeda gunnies have been killed since the festivities began at the weekend, adding that the Islamist holy warriors have vacated government buildings in the Mansura district.

Many Islamist holy warriors have already pulled out from Aden and withdrawn to their strongholds in the nearby provinces of Abyan...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and restive Lahj... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement, one official said.

Another official said Salafist Islamists were trying to mediate a truce, but holy warriors were refusing to hand over areas they control.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group have taken advantage of Yemen's conflict between Iran-backed Shia Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...rebels and pro-government forces to reinforce their presence in the south.

Warplanes from a pro-government, Saudi-led coalition targeted Islamist holy warriors in Aden over the weekend for the first time since it mounted a campaign against the rebels in March last year.

The coalition helped loyalists regain control of four southern provinces last summer, including Aden, the temporary base of the government.

The capital Sanaa has remained in rebel hands since September 2014.

The World Health Organization says more than 6,200 people have been killed in the conflict since March 2015 and the United Nations...an idea whose time has gone... has warned of a "human catastrophe unfolding in Yemen".

[Ynet] Kosovo police say they have arrested two Albanian men charged with funding terrorist activities and recruiting people for Islamic extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Police said Wednesday that one man was arrested in Prizren, 82 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Pristina. He is suspected of recruiting two persons who were stopped by police before leaving the country in December.

The other, a businessman, was arrested in Ferizaj, 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of Pristina. He has been investigated since 2014 on suspicion of recruiting and funding people who are in Syria and Iraq, some of them reportedly dead or already arrested.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] French anti-terrorism police juggedYez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! a small group with Islamist bully boy ties on Wednesday, suspecting one of them they may have been planning an attack in Gay Paree, La Belle France’s interior minister said.

"We have information about one person that suggests that he could undertake violent actions in La Belle France," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, adding the man was thought to have ties with ISIS in Syria.

"This person was arrested this morning along with people linked with him," Cazeneuve said, warning however against jumping to the conclusion that an attack was imminent as checks were underway.

Earlier TF1 television reported that three men and one women were arrested at dawn in Gay Paree and at the nearby northern suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis on suspicions they were planning an imminent attack.

Police also seized an unused cartridge for an automatic rifle and computer equipment, TF1 said on its web site.

The investigation was focused in particular in a 28-year-old Frenchie who had been under house arrest since Feb. 29 under a state of alert in effect in La Belle France since Islamist forces of Evil killed 130 people in a series of attacks last November.

The man, a French citizen, was sentenced to five years in prison in March 2014 after he was arrested two years earlier when he tried to leave La Belle France for Syria. He was released in October 2015, TF1 reported.

His partner was also arrested along with two French brothers of Turkish origin.

The arrests came a day after Belgian police rubbed out a 35-year-old Algerian during a raid on a Brussels apartment in the hunt for clues to bloody attacks in Gay Paree last November.

#1
""an unused cartridge for an automatic rifle and computer equipment""
Can you tell if an unused cartridge is for an automatic rifle? And I think we need a comma in there.
WRT cartridges; where there's one there may be more, or, unfortunately, may have been more.

#2
Richard, not an expert and if I'm wrong I'm sure I'll get corrected, but the only way is by the caliber and then you're assuming no custom gun-smithing. No way at all to tell difference between semi/full auto.

AK47s use a 7.62X39 and I don't know of any other type of gun that uses that. CZ I think, makes a semi-auto in that caliber but that goes to my point above.

EG .22 LR cartridges can be used in anything from derringers to full auto guns. So no way to tell at all.

#6
Alan. Mes apologies. I was asking facetiously, making fun of the headline. Or, if they got the wording from the cops....
People will say from time to time that one or another French cop outfit is tough as nails. That's apparently the case when it comes to things which we would consider covered by the Bill of Rights. But.... I dunno about the rest of it.
Speaking of tough, which I just hauled into the conversation: Back when the three Americans on vacation thwarted a horrible massacre on the Thalys train, I had some time to look around. Not much from the prog sites. IMO, they know the ideal prog guy couldn't have done that, wouldn't have done that, wouldn't have been raised to do that, and if it happened and he survived, he'd want therapy. So they're kind of embarrassed by the whole thing. The non-ideal guys took care of business. It is...hey, look! A squirrel! In fact, it's a problematic squirrel.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The suspect bumped off in a Brussels shootout with police was found with an ISIS flag, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a book of Salafist literature next to his body, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Thierry Werts, a front man for anti-terror prosecutors, told a presser that the man had been identified as 35-year-old Belkaid Mohammed, an Algerian national who was illegally in Belgium.

"Next to the body was a Kalashnikov, a book on Salafism and an Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... flag," Werts said.

Mohammed was "neutralized" by police snipers on Tuesday in response to heavy gunfire from the building where police on a routine search had stumbled upon him.

Werts said that "two persons who were probably in the flat and whose identity is not known expeditiously departed at a goodly pace and are being tracked down".

Searches throughout the southern district of Brussels found "no results", he said.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said a vast police operation was still under way in Brussels after the shootout in which four coppers were slightly maimed.

Belkaid was living in Belgium illegally and had a police record for theft, but was not on security watchlists.

Two people detained overnight on suspicion of links to the shootout in the suburb of Forest were released without charge.

Ten people are being held in Belgian custody on a variety of charges relating to the four-month investigation, though prime suspects, including Salah Abdeslam, a brother of one of the Gay Pareejacket wallahs, are suspected of having fled the country.

KARACHI – The personnel of law-enforcement agencies recovered abducted children and a youth, and arrested seven kidnappers during operations in different areas here in the wee hours of Wednesday.

According to Rangers spokesman, a youth, Kashan, was lifted on March 12 from the city area of Defence for ransom worth RS.120 million. Receiving the report, personnel of Rangers Special Task Cell and Rangers gathered evidences from the site.

Earlier, Kashan was freed in return for Rs.300,000 on Queens Road. The paratroopers arrested an abductor, Adnan and later, on his identification, apprehended his two accomplices. Rangers also recovered weapons from the abductors.

Meantime, police launched an action in Sharafi Goth and recovered kidnapped children from captivity. Four abductors were also captured in the raid.

[Daily Excelsior] The NIA has juggedDrop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! 24 people for alleged links with ISIS, government today said, making it clear that only a very few youths from India were attracted to the dreaded terror group.

"The National Investigation Agency and the police in some states have registered cases and arrested some active cadres affiliated to ISIS in the recent past. So far, NIA has arrested 24 accused in the cases being investigated by the agency," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Rajya Sabha.

The Minister said the outfit uses both positive and negative imagery to attract recruits from across the world but it has influenced or attracted very few youths from India.

"The ISIS is using various internet based platforms for propaganda and to propagate its ideology. The intelligence and security agencies monitor the cyber space closely to identify potential recruits and keep them under surveillance and take further action, if necessary," he said in a written reply.

[DAWN] DAGGAR: Police claimed to have juggedInto the paddy wagon wit' yez! two suspected bandidosbully boyz having affiliation with Mullah Fazlullah...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... group. Both the arrested men carried head money.

Addressing a presser on Tuesday, District Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said that one of the arrested murderous Moslems, Badsha Hussain, carried a bounty of Rs1 million and the other, Farman, Rs500,000 million.

The DPO said the arrested men were wanted to law-enforcement agencies for attacks on Gandigar cop shoppe in 2009.

He said as per record Badsha Hussain was trained at a Taliban centre in Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... and Farman at Sadiqa Banda and Jabbar training centre in Upper Dir.

[DAWN] Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... ratified on Tuesday the death sentences of 13 men convicted by military courts of involvement in acts of terrorism. One of the convicts was sentenced for his involvement in the killing of 10 foreign hikers and their Pak guide.

All of the condemned, except one, were affiliated with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), and were involved in acts of terrorism, including the killing of foreign tourists at Nanga Parbat, attack on Saidu Sharif Airport, destruction of schools and attacks on personnel of armed forces, law-enforcement agencies and civilians, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Continued on Page 49

[DAWN] A powerful bomb, detonated by a timing mechanism, destroyed a bus carrying babus government employees in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and causing injuries to 25.

The blast that took place near Peshawar's Sunehri Masjid targeted a Civil Secretariat bus which was carrying babus government employees from Mardan to the lovely provincial capital.

Fear and panic spread among residents in the wake of the kaboom and the area was cordoned off with the injured being shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital, where an emergency has been declared.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantonment Muhammad Kashif said the bomb was planted in the rear portion of the bus.

"Fifteen people were killed and 25 others were severely injured," added the police officer.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Peshawar Mubarak Zeb said the bus left for Peshawar from Malakand, picking up babus government employees on its route. The bus, which is parked at a petrol pump during the night, leaves for duty after morning prayers. Levis personnel provide security in the area, the CCPO said.

Malakand is closely linked to Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... and Mohmand Agency... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar..., which are sensitive areas, he said.

Bomb Disposal Unit personnel claimed that high-grade explosives weighing eight kilograms was used in the attack.

He said the employees were travelling in a privately-operated bus and that the government cannot ensure security of private vehicles. It was the responsibility of the contractor, Ghani said, adding that usually checks are carried out before the bus leaves its station.

This is not the first time that a civil secretariat bus has been targeted in Peshawar. Similar attacks in 2012 and 2013 killed at least 38 people.

Peshawar has seen scores of attacks on civilians as well as law enforcement personnel in the past. The city is also the home to the XI Corps, an administrative corp of the Pakistain Army which manages all military activity in KP and is currently engaged in a full-blown operation in North Wazoo.

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Eyewitnesses in Nineveh Province revealed, that the so-called ISIS kidnapped twenty-five Turkoman children from an orphanage in Mosul, and took them to a training camp in Talafar District.

ISIS booby-trapped the children to use them as human bombs against the Iraqi joint forces in the axes of Mosul.

The eyewitnesses reported for IraqiNews.com, “The terrorist organization intends to booby-trap the children to blow them up on the joint forces that are progressing to liberate the province in the near future.”

The witnesses added, “The children, who were kidnapped by ISIS from an orphanage, are ranging between ten to seventeen years old.”

[ARA News] ERBIL – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) carried out an arrest campaign in several areas of the city of Mosul, northern Iraq, in search of suspects having links with the Iraqi army forces, local sources reported on Wednesday.

Speaking to ARA News in Mosul, media activist Abdulla al-Mulla said that ISIS militants raided a number of houses and public cafes in search of suspects “who are accused of spying for the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces”.

Al-Mulla stressed that the Hisba members (ISIS security forces) accused dozens of civilians of having suspicious relations with the U.S.-led coalition forces along with the local ground troops.

“Daesh has blatantly entered the houses, shops and cafes in the city of Mosul and its environs,” al-Mulla said, using an acronym for ISIS.

The source pointed out that dozens of young men were arrested in the Yarmouk district of western Mosul.

This comes after confidential locations and headquarters for the terror group in the Yarmouk district were selectively hit by the U.S.-led coalition’s warplanes, causing heavy losses in ISIS ranks.

“Before the start of the security operation, ISIS called citizens over loudspeakers to evacuate their homes. The operation included extensive inspection campaigns on all communication devices, mobiles and computers,” al-Mulla stressed.

The source revealed that ISIS has recently intensified security campaigns on the residential areas, stepping up its presence among people, especially cafes, restaurants and schools, in a bid to arrest suspects for transferring information to the anti-ISIS forces.

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province revealed on Wednesday, that eight members of the so-called ISIS, including the commander of the so-called Islamic police, were killed in an aerial bombing carried out by the international coalition aviation southwest of Kirkuk.

The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The international coalition aviation shelled a headquarters belonging to ISIS in al-Rashad vicinity, killing eight ISIS members including ISIS commander of the Islamic police Eidan al-Ezzi,” adding that, “Ezzi was one of the perpetrators of the assassination of Abdullah Sami al-Assi, Head of the Arab Group, who was assassinated last year.”

The source also pointed out, “Ezzi was also one of ISIS prominent leaders who served as ISIS commander of Islamic police southwest of Kirkuk.

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – An informed military source in the province of Kirkuk announced on Wednesday, that a reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the Iraqi Air Force crashed in the vicinity of Hawija west of the province due to a technical failure, while pointed out that the plane crew is missing.

The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “We lost Cessna 208 Caravan plane belonging to Iraqi Air Force while it was on a reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the skies of Hawija west of Kirkuk,” noting that, “A technical failure led to the crash, and we are searching for the three crew members.”

The source, who asked anonymity, added, “ISIS published a number of tweets stating that a detachment belonging to ISIS managed to drop the US-made aircraft, after being shot by caliber 57 cannon shells in the skies of Hawija southwest of Kirkuk.”

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – The spokesperson for al-Hashed al-Sha’bi militia Ali Husseini said on Wednesday, that the ISIS militants shelled the vicinity of Taza in southern Kirkuk by four Katyusha rockets without causing casualties.

Husseini said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, ISIS attacked the district of Taza by launching four Katyusha rockets on the center of al-Bashir vicinity in southern Kirkuk,” adding that, “The rocket attack did not result in the registration of any casualties,” noting that, “al-Hashed al-Sha’bi forces responded to the attack.”

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday, that nine people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast in western Baghdad.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, at noon today, near a popular market in Abu Ghraib District in western Baghdad, killing two people and wounding seven others,” pointing out that, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “An operation was carried out to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Wednesday, that a civilian had been killed and two others were injured in a bomb blast that took place in southern Baghdad.

The source, who requested anonymity, said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, an explosive device that was emplaced on the road side in the area of al-Latifiyah has went off resulting in the killing of one civilian and wounding two others,” pointing out that, “A security force cordoned off the area of the incident, while transferred the injured to a nearby hospital and the dead to the forensic medicine department.”

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source within the police force in Baghdad announced on Wednesday, that gunmen intercepted a civilian vehicle and stole 20 million dinars in northern the capital Baghdad.

The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Militants intercepted a civilian’s vehicle while passing in the area of al-Waziriyah in northern Baghdad and stole 20 million dinars from him,” noting that, “A force from the police opened an investigation into the incident to identify the thieves.”

Border Police officers tossed in the clinkDon't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! a 14-year-old Paleostinian boy on Wednesday morning at the entrance to the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem after finding a knife in his possession.

Officers manning the checkpoint stopped the teen after noticing him jumping a turnstile in an attempt to evade their scrutiny as he exited the refugee camp.

A search of his clothes revealed the knife.

The youth told Sherlocks he planned to carry out a terror attack, the Border Police said.

Overnight Tuesday, IDF and police forces uncovered a workshop for fabricating parts of firearms in the village of Sawahra near the Etzion bloc, which lies south of Jerusalem.

Three men, identified as local residents, were arrested in the operation.

Troops found and confiscated an MP-5 rifle, a handgun and large quantities of ammunition, and destroyed the workshop, police said.

"The Israel Police operates in all parts of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], in every place and time, against the phenomenon of the manufacture and possession of firearms, including improvised weapons," a police statement said. "Severe indictments will be filed against the suspects," the statement added.

Another seven Paleostinian suspects, including at least two members of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, were arrested in overnight raids in the West Bank, the army said.

[Ynet] The United States and its allies carried out 11 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Wednesday.

The coalition carried out three strikes each on the towns of Hit and Sinjar in Iraq. It destroyed weapons caches, anti-aircraft artillery and rails for launching rockets near Hit and heavy machine guns near Sinjar. Aircraft also struck Kisik and Al Huwayjah in Iraq.

In Syria, coalition aircraft carried out two air strikes against the town of Al Hawl, destroying nine Islamic State fighting positions, the coalition statement said.

It was one of the lightest days for coalition air strikes since the start of the campaign in 2014. The coalition has carried out an average of 24 air strikes per day since July and has only carried out 11 or fewer air strikes on three or four occasions during that time, according to coalition strike data.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.